Is there anyone on here that has experiance with alopecia (hair loss) in children?

I have a five year old niece. Since her birth her life has been an emotional roller coaster. At two she got to go see her dad through the prison glass for a year. During that time her uncle helped take care of her most of the time she called him dad. Her dad got out of prison in a year. He fought with her mom the halftime. When she was 4 Her uncle was killed in a car accident and in the same week her dad packed all his clothes and said he had another woman pregnant. My niece has always been a nervous child she has to have short hair because she chews it off she bites her finger nails til they bleed. This all started when her dad went to jail. The hair loss at the top of her head is new. Many kids go through rough family lives. I guess she is justhHypersensitive. Ant experiance or advice would be great. Oh yeah she is now in the middle of a horrible custody battle. She goes weeks with out dseeing her mom. she has a two year old sister she is trying to mother. It is the family courts doing this. My sis got a DUI so they took the girls with only supervised visits. Any how my main question is about the hair loss.Is there anyone on here that has experiance with alopecia (hair loss) in children?
Oh man, it sounds like she (and your whole family) has been through the ringer. I really hope things start going better for you guys. I do have a suggestion though, make sure they are testing her for celiac disease. Hair loss and nervousness/anxiety are both common symptoms of celiac disease. It's an autoimmune disease caused by gluten intolerance and the cure is a gluten free diet. Many physicians don't suspect it unless a patient has weight loss or diarrhea, but it's just as likely that a patient will present with hair loss, anxiety, seizures, all kinds of other things. In fact, the most common symptom in children is irritability. It's sad that it's not diagnosed more often because the number of patients is about 1 in 100, making it extremely common. I mean, it's possible that she really does just have a terrible case of anxiety due to her situation, but make sure there aren't any biological causes. Do a search for ';celiac disease alopecia'; and you'll find a ton of links. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope this helps!



http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/sympto/a>

http://www.stopnowhairloss.com/2008/02/0/a>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/75571/a>



edit: also, anemia is very common in people who chew their hair. It's considered by some to be a form of pica (you know, where people eat crazy things like rocks and dirt). Pica results from severe anemia. Anemia is extremely common among people with celiac disease. I have celiac disease and I craved cleaning products. I knew it was crazy but it was all I could think about. Fortunately I was able to resist the cravings and when I started eating gluten free the cravings went away completely. Definitely get her tested.